Ban for Brierfield mum who drove off after smash?

Burnley Magistartes Court.

A Brierfield mother-of-one who drove off after an accident with a motorcycle could be facing a driving ban.

Sonya Arif (23) was in a road crash with motorbiker John Lincoln along Burnley Road last year.

But the court heard the defendant, of Mansfield Crescent, drove off from the scene in her Vauxhall Corsa.

Mr Lincoln was not badly injured and managed to make his own way to report the incident at the police station, magistrates heard.

But it was not until later on that night that Arif, who is a new driver, went along with her father to the police station to inform officers of what happened on November 27th.

She admitted driving without due care and attention, failing to stop after a road accident and failing to report a road accident before Pennine Magistrates’ Court.

Sentencing, magistrates gave her seven points on her licence and ordered her to pay fines totalling £387.50.

The DVLA will now be notified and as a new driver she could face disqualification from driving.

Dylan Bradshaw (defending) said it had been a genuine error of judgment. He said: “She is a newly-qualified driver. She was frightened and she panicked. Her licence is pristine. These documents are one of the most important things in her life because of her family.

“She takes her daughter to and from nursery, she transfers members of her family around East Lancashire and takes her younger brother to college in Blackburn.

“They are decent, hard-working members of the community – they are not on ‘Benefits Street’.”